Science Forums 2

[ntuc]

Botox Injections For Blepharospasm / Hemifacial Spasms - My Opinions



As a matter of fact, I have received 3 therapy sessions of Botox injections from a neurosurgeon for my chronic medication-induced involuntary uncontrollable non-stop rapid eyelid-twtiching / eye-blinking at a very exorbitant cost of U.S 5000 dollars each from an expensive private medical centre located in my home country (one of the less-developed ones in Asia) before I have actually got it gradually and totally cured once and for all in the end through acupuncture treatment (an alternative-instrument-aided self-administered one - please refer to the related prior posts above).


The remark below is a quotation from someone else :

'Long-term therapy with botulinum toxin is sometimes associated with therapy failure following repeated injections of the neurotoxin, presumably due to specific antibody production.'


My reply :

Well, the general medical rule is such that human body would tend to get used / immunized to whatever similar medications fed to it over the long-term in such a way that when such immunization actually takes place, the recipients of such medications would then not be able to respond in the 'effectively intended' way to acquire the desired medical effects from such medications. So, I think that's the reason why Botox would fail in the case you have described.


Well, to be really frank with you, I have never considered Botox injections to be a permanently conclusive and totally practical cure for such chronic non-stop eyelid-twitching / eye-blinking and other Hemifacial Spasms disorders.


In regard of Botox injections for eyelid twitching problem / Hemifacial Spasms, such toxin-based medication would just serve to sort of 'half-paralyse' the eyelid / facial muscles to reduce such twitchings / tics without being able to do anything curative to the problematic nerves around the non-stop twitching eyelid / facial muscles that cause such muscle-twitchings / tics problems. Besides, each Botox injection would work for just 3-6 months and after that one would very probably need to get another injection one after another indefinitely in regard of such a treatment to continue to get the similar muscle-paralysing healing effects.


Next, in regard of the Botox injections applied onto the facial muscles, one would very likely develop such undesired side effects as paralysed facial muscles, droopy eyelids (in certain cases) etc when one gets such Botox injections over the long-term after quite a number of years.


Subsequently, even though newer and newer versions of Botox injections composed possibly with different combinations of medical contents would tend to be invented from time to time nowadays to overcome such 'immunization effects' of the ones of the older versions received regularly by its regular users, I am nevertheless in the opinion that such a group of persons are actually running a risk of suffering eventually from the potentially unknown side effects of such different versions of Botox medications, which can be really disastrous when the side effects of such medications just 'manifest all of a sudden'.


As to the acupuncture treatment administered onto the "He Gu" acupuncture point (the one located on one's wrist and is effective in treating the facial nerves especially the eyelids - please refer to the diagram added in related posts above), the underlying mechanism, as explained to me by the acupuncturist dealing with my eyelid twitching sickness was such that it would gradually purge the dopamine-disturbing / other neurotransmitters chemical-disrupting toxins that cause all such eyelid / facial twitchings, tics and spasms out of one's body, and hence actually help restore the bodily chemical balances to enable a person to get totally cured once and for all in the end. Next, that's exactly the healing and curative benefits that I had acquired and subsequently the ones having the similar eyelid-twitching problems in my real life and to whom I recommended such alternative instrument-aided self-administered acupuncture method (which involves the use of a blunt-pointed object such a normal writing pen which is out-of-ink etc and pressing using just mild force onto the very surface of that acupuncture point, and hence is safe-and-convenient-to-apply considering every single aspect of the methodology) had also get cured and carried on living a normal life getting back everything they lost previously due to such debilitating sickness especially their jobs to continue earning a living to survive on and provide a decent life for their families.


All in all, my opinion is such that it's always better to solve any problems once and for all by dealing directly with their root causes rather than through indefinitely indirect methods of 'interceptions' that will be potentially hazardous over the long-term for the ones suffering from them.